Thoughts on NaNoWriMo 2013

by syaffolee

Well, I drove a lot. Literally and metaphorically. Literally because I had to drive to a lot of write-ins across the Bitterroot Valley from Darby to Missoula. I’m pretty sure I logged a couple hundred miles this month simply driving to write-ins. I don’t particularly want to know exactly how many miles I actually logged (although I could easily figure it out). I think it would depress me more considering how many write-ins I went to where no one came. While I could have just not gone to any of those write-ins, I take my duties as a municipal liaison seriously. I might complain like crazy, but if the write-in is planned, I go in case someone does show up. When I had been just a participant before becoming an ML, I knew some MLs were flakes and that was frustrating. I do not want to be a flake. Period.

And metaphorically there was a lot of driving because in my novel, Sweet Diesel, the main character is a race car. During November she (the car has a gender because she used to be human) went from Algiers, through Niger, and to the border of Mali. I managed to reach 50,000 words just past 5 PM on November 30 (and it was a really close thing this year), but the story isn’t done. Which is why I’m still writing in December. I don’t want to leave the story unfinished.

And speaking of a close thing–this has probably been the most difficult year I’ve had in finishing NaNoWriMo ever, including my first year participating where I finished three or four days early. Not because the story or characters stymied me but because I had a hard time really finding the time to write. And after multitasking a quadrillion other things, it was also hard to find the energy (especially during the week) to write anything. However, I did manage to write something every day, even if it meant just a sentence before I went to sleep for about four or five hours.

It never really crossed my mind to quit and give myself a rest. I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo too long for that to be an option. November has become CRAZY DO ALL THE THINGS month. Slacking off is out of the question.

Anyways, posting in this blog will be somewhat sporadic this month as I try to finish the novel before January and meet several work deadlines before Christmas.